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Am I insane to travel w/hospital grade pump?

Next week is a long anticipated 4 day business trip to Calgary. My LO will be 25 weeks and I'm not willing to stop nursing so I'm taking her and DH. However when I'm in my office there I will need to pump so dad can feed her the next day, just like at home w/the nanny.

My schedule will be jam packed plus i will likely be working an even longer work day there so Dad's gonna need more milk - the Symphony is fast and effective. But it's SO heavy. Am I nuts to haul it? My barely used PISA never got me what I needed.

(FYI factoid - Canada has no law requiring a lactation room in the workplace, prob due to an allowable up to 1 year maternity leave. I had to ask my office there to work on a space for me.)

Re: Am I insane to travel w/hospital grade pump?

Bring it! I've travelled a lot with it - I just wish it had a battery pack so it could be used on an airplane, but I think the newer models do (mine doesn't).

What case are you using for it? The hard-shell one it comes with? For what it's worth, I carry mine around in a backpack. I actually use an old backpack-style diaper bag (this one: http://www.toysrus.com/product/index...uctId=11912552) - it has a flap that you zip down so I can just zip it open and there is my pump. There's another zipper on the front to pull the cord through - it's almost like it was made for the pump! Lots of little nooks and crannies for extra membranes, etc., but no place to store bottles/pump parts. But it's worked well for me. Perhaps if you have an old backpack laying around you could use that will allow you to carry it on your back. If you're concerned about protecting it you could wrap the actual pump in a towel, then put it in a backpack or something...

Re: Am I insane to travel w/hospital grade pump?

That ridiculous hard case stays in my house - I have it in a soft bag but between lugging that and my laptop everyday to work, to my client's office to home I'm aging quickly! Ill check out your bag - prob can't switch up before the trip but I am likely to change to a backpack for travel and we have plenty.

Re: Am I insane to travel w/hospital grade pump?

Well I lugged it and it was worth it. We brought frozen milk on dry ice for DH's first Mr Mom day since I couldn't travel all day AND pump. On day two I pumped at my Calgary office and got what I needed for the following day. I know I wouldn't have with the PISA. On day 3 I pumped although Day 4 was travel back. I had enough milk to make the effort to get it back to the States. I had brought 2 ice packs that I kept frozen. i put the bagged milk in a small cooler case with the ice packs and put the whole thing in 2 zipper bags in my suitcase I figured checked bags always stay cold beneath the plane in winter. I was right. Milk made it home 11 hours later still nice and cold.